1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to battery cell monitoring and/or balancing. In one possible embodiment, the present invention relates to using saturated transformer cores in a matrix arrangement to address individual battery cells or groups of battery cells.
2. Description of Related Art
High voltage batteries may involve connections of many cells or cell modules. Examples of high voltage batteries include battery cell arrays for hybrid cars, aerospace/spacecraft applications, telecommunication power supplies, computer power supplies, uninterruptible power supplies, electric utility energy storage, commercial applications, and the like. High voltage batteries may be of different types including lithium-ion cells, fuel cells, other electrochemical cells, and the like.
In prior art systems, some of which are discussed hereinafter, cell monitoring and balancing are achieved either by including complex electronic circuitry at each cell, or electrical connectors with many contacts to allow external circuitry to monitor and balance the cells. Complicated circuitry at each cell is inherently less reliable. If many connections are required, the connectors present electrical shock safety issues. If the connectors are heavy, then they may be unsuitable for aerospace/spacecraft applications.
For some applications, it may be desirable to provide separate battery system components such as an external charger and an external cell charge measurement subsystem. To provide the capability to monitor individual battery cells, a multi-pin connector on the battery is required. In large high voltage batteries, such a connector has several disadvantages. The connector needs at least one pin per cell. Since the battery can produce high voltages, the sense lines need a safety disconnect or electrical isolation to avoid exposing ground personnel or crew to high voltages when the connector is used. Since the battery can produce high currents, the sense lines may also need some sort of fusing or other wire protection as well.
It would be desirable to provide a cell monitoring system with minimal complexity such as the absence of need for fusing on sense lines, electrical isolation for each cell, limited leakage current drains on the cells, and limits to overcharge rates for the individual battery cells.
Batteries may utilize a wide range of the number of individual cells depending on the requirements of the system. For example, batteries may have a few cell, thirty or more cells, over one hundred cells, or more. Thus, the number of connections necessary to provide access to individual cells may be quite large. It would be desirable to keep the number of connections to a minimum. In such batteries, it is often desirable to monitor the cell voltages and balance the state of the charge of the individual cells to improve the battery operation and lifetime.
The following patents show prior art efforts regarding the above and other problems:
U.S. Pat. No. 7,148,654, issued Dec. 12, 2006, to Burany et al, discloses a system and method for monitoring cell voltages for a plurality of electrochemical cells connected in series forming a cell stack. The method includes dividing the cells into at least two cell groups, measuring the voltage across each cell group and estimating the minimum cell voltage for each group based on the average cell stack voltage and an estimated number of deficient cells in each group. The lowest minimum cell voltage for the entire cell stack is then determined.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,081,737, issued Jul. 25, 2006, to Liu et al, discloses a monitoring circuit for monitoring a voltage level from each of a plurality of battery cells of a battery pack includes an analog to digital converter (ADC) and a processor. The ADC is configured to accept an analog voltage signal from each of the plurality of battery cells and convert each analog voltage signal to a digital signal representative of an accurate voltage level of each battery cell. The processor receives such signals and provides a safety alert signal based on at least one of the signals. The ADC resolution may be adjustable. A balancing circuit provides a balancing signal if at least two of the digital signals indicate a voltage difference between two cells is greater than a battery cell balance threshold. An electronic device including such monitoring and balancing circuits is also provided.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,983,212, issued Jan. 3, 2006, to Burns, discloses a battery management system for control of individual cells in a battery string. The battery management system includes a charger, a voltmeter, a selection circuit and a microprocessor. Under control of the microprocessor, the selection circuit connects each cell of the battery string to the charger and voltmeter. Information relating to battery performance is recorded and analyzed. The analysis depends upon the conditions under which the battery is operating. By monitoring the battery performance under different conditions, problems with individual cells can be determined and corrected.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,844,703, issued Jan. 18, 2005, to Canter, discloses a battery cell balancing system for a battery having a plurality of cells. The system includes a power supply and a plurality of transformer/rectifier circuits electrically coupled to the cells. Preferential charging occurs for a cell with the lowest state of charge. At least one current limiting device is electrically coupled to the transformer/rectifier circuits and the power supply. The current limiting device buffers a source voltage from a reflected voltage of at least one of the plurality of cells).
U.S. Pat. No. 6,803,678, issued Oct. 12, 2004, to Gottlieb et al, discloses a UPS system for providing backup power to a load includes: a power input; multiple batteries; multiple battery housings, each containing one of the batteries, the batteries being coupled in parallel; multiple battery-monitor processors, each monitor being disposed in a respective one of the battery housings and coupled to the corresponding battery; a UPS processor coupled, and configured, to receive monitor data from the plurality of battery-monitor processors; a UPS-processor housing containing the UPS processor and being displaced from the battery housings; and a power output coupled and configured to selectively provide power from one of the power input and the batteries.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,664,762 issued Dec. 16, 2003, to Kutkut, discloses a battery charger for charging high voltage battery strings that includes a DC-to-AC converter, which drives the primary of a transformer having multiple secondaries. Each secondary winding has a corresponding output stage formed of a rectification circuit, output inductor, and output capacitor. The output terminals of the output stages are connectable either in parallel or series. In either configuration, inductor current and capacitor voltage automatically balance among the output stage circuits. A controller normally regulates output terminal voltage by operating in voltage mode, but limits current by operating in a current mode when the average of inductor currents exceeds a specified limit. Reconfiguration from parallel to series, or vice versa, is obtained physical reconnection of the output stage terminals and adjustment of a single voltage feedback scaling factor. Connecting the output stages in series to produce a high voltage output reduces voltage stresses on the rectification circuits and enables use of Schottky diodes to avoid reverse recovery problems.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,583,603, issued Jun. 24, 2003, to Baldwin, discloses an apparatus and method for controllably charging and discharging individual battery cells or groups of battery cells in a string of batteries employed as a back-up power supply. The apparatus includes battery supply modules for at least partially isolating battery strings from the load bus and primary power supply. The partial isolation is effected by a switching network including two controlled switches arranged in parallel to selectively isolate the string of batteries. In certain disclosed embodiments, one of the controlled switches is turned on to connect the string of batteries to the load bus until the other controlled switch closes. The system includes a main power supply that supplies a power bus to a regulator in each battery supply module, which is used for charging the battery string, and a discharge bus to each battery supply module for discharging the batteries.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,268,711 issued Jul. 31, 2001, to Bearfield, discloses a battery manager that provides the ability to switch multiple batteries, battery cells, or other forms of power sources to power external devices individually, in series, and/or in parallel. The device is typically electronic based and consists of voltage level detecting circuits for comparing each power source to a reference voltage, FET control logic for controlling the switching matrix, and a switching matrix which accomplishes the required configuration of power sources to provide an output power source. The invention can be extended with the addition of an output power monitor, DC/DC converter, and control signals that augment internal switching. Depending upon implementation requirements, the battery manager can be in the form of a single integrated circuit.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,181,103 issued Jan. 30, 2001, to Chen, discloses a system converting a smart battery pack into a removable and data accessible (RADA) battery pack and an intelligent power management algorithm embedded in the host computer. The RADA battery pack contains a temperature sensor, a display unit, and a memory (EEPROM). Peripherals mounted on the host computer side contain a control unit, a charging circuit, a load circuit, a voltage divider, a current detector, a temperature control circuit, and a data bus are used to cope with the removal and data access operation for the AICPM system. The removable and data-accessible battery pack utilizes the functions provided by this invention to read, update, and record data about the battery pack, such as number of times used, remaining capacity, usable time, and nominal capacity. It also stores these data in the EEPROM of the RADA battery pack so that when the battery pack is used next time, the AICPM system can read out these data from the EEPROM and use them as the battery pack new information.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,031,354 issued Feb. 29, 2000, to Wiley et al, discloses an on-line battery management and monitoring system and method for monitoring a plurality of battery cells identifies and computes individual cell and battery bank operating parameters. The system comprises a central monitoring station to which a plurality of controllers is connected, each controller having a plurality of battery cells which it monitors. Features of the invention include the following: display of measurement and alarm condition data for each of the battery cells connected to each of the controllers; color-coded display of data for a battery cell, the display color being dependent upon the condition of the battery; performance of data analysis and initiation of necessary maintenance requests; operation of the controllers in an automatic local mode, automatic remote mode, or maintenance mode; provision for periodic calls from the controllers to the central monitoring station; and generation of red alarm calls, yellow alarm calls, downscale alarm calls, and diagnostic calls between the central monitoring station and the controllers.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,982,143, issued Nov. 9, 1999, to Stuart, discloses an electronic battery equalization circuit that equalizes the voltages of a plurality of series connected batteries in a battery pack. The current waveform is in the shape of a ramp for providing zero current switching. The transformer has a primary winding circuit and at least one secondary winding circuit. In one embodiment, each secondary winding circuit is connected to a different pair of batteries. The equalizing current is provided to the lowest voltage batteries in one-half of the battery pack during one-half of the charging cycle. The equalizing current is then provided to the lowest voltage batteries in the other half of the battery pack during the other half of the charging cycle. In another embodiment, each secondary winding circuit is connected to a different single battery. The equalizing current is supplied to a lowest voltage battery in the battery pack during each half of the switching cycle. The electronic battery equalization circuit also includes a feedback control circuit coupled to the primary winding circuit for controlling the current from the equalizing current supply source. In another embodiment, optically coupled switches are connected to a battery voltage monitor to provide equalizing current to the lowest voltage even and odd numbered battery in the battery pack.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,923,148 issued Jul. 13, 1999, to Sideris et al, discloses an on-line battery monitoring system for monitoring a plurality of battery cells identifies and computes individual cell and battery bank operating parameters. The system comprises a controller for designating a given battery cell to be monitored, a multiplexer responsive to designation by the controller for selecting a given battery cell to be monitored or for selecting a battery pack to be monitored, an analog board for receiving electrical signals from a given battery cell for providing an output representing measurement of a parameter (voltage, temperature, and the like) of the given battery cell, a voltage sensor circuit for sensing voltage appearing across positive and negative terminals of the battery pack, and a control board responsive to address information for selectively initiating a load test, battery bank charging, or common-mode voltage measurement.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,914,606 issued Jun. 22, 1999, to Becker-Irvin, discloses a circuit and method for making differential voltage measurements when one or both measurement points are at voltages that exceed those allowed by a typical differential amplifier, and is particular useful for monitoring the individual cell voltages of a number of series-connected cells that make up a rechargeable battery in which some cell voltages must be measured in the presence of a high common mode voltage. Each measurement point is connected to an input of a respective voltage divider, with all the divider outputs connected to a multiplexer having two outputs. The two multiplexer outputs are connected to a differential amplifier. When the voltage dividers are “closely matched,” the output of the differential amplifier is directly proportional to the differential voltage between the pair of points to which the dividers are connected, and the differential voltage between those two points is accurately determined. The voltage dividers divide down the voltage of each measurement point so that each is low enough to be input to a conventional differential amplifier. By selecting the “ratio” of each voltage divider, the circuit can be used to measure differential voltages in the presence of almost any common mode voltage. The invention requires a single differential amplifier powered by a conventional dual power supply.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,666,040, issued Sep. 9, 1997 to Bourbeau, discloses a safe, low-cost battery monitor and control system. Electronic modules are connected to the terminals of respective batteries that make up a series string. Each module produces a go/no-go signal for each of four battery conditions: over-voltage, under-voltage, over-temperature and float-voltage, which are read by a network controller connected to each module via a single three-wire local area network. Based on the information received, the controller can adjust the charging current to the string, terminate the charge cycle, limit the current drawn from the string when in use, or disconnect the string from the system it is powering. The controller can record a history of the charge and discharge activity of each battery, so that the weakest batteries can be identified and replaced instead of scrapping the entire string. The system controls the charging current delivered to each battery during a charge cycle to insure that each battery is neither overcharged nor undercharged, by connecting a bypass circuit across the battery's terminals to reduce the charging current when an over-voltage condition is detected, or by reducing charge current to the string, A battery's voltage measurement is temperature compensated so that it can be accurately compared to temperature dependant limits. The addressable switch is bidirectional, so that the controller can, for example, force bypass resistors to be connected across selected batteries in order to heat up the batteries in a cold environment.
US Patent Publication 2007/0279003, published on Dec. 6, 2007, to Altemose et al, discloses a system for balancing charge between a plurality of storage battery cells within a storage battery. The battery balancing system sense changes, possibly caused by environmental influences, in the overall resonant frequency of charge balancing circuits contained within the battery balancing system. Using a phase locked loop based controller, the battery balancing system compensates for the change in resonant frequency by driving the battery balancing circuits at a frequency that matches the actual sensed resonant frequency of the battery balancing circuits.
An article by Kong Zhi-Guo et al, is entitled “Comparison and Evaluation of Charge Equalization Technique for Series Connected Batteries”, Power Electronics Specialists Conference, 2006. PESC '06. 37th IEEE 18-22 Jun. 2006, pp. 1-6.
An article by Jim Williams and Mark Thoren is entitled “Novel measurements circuit eases battery-stack-cell design”, EDN, Jan. 10, 2008, p. 47.
An article by N. H. Kutkut et al, is entitled “Charge equalization for series connected battery strings”, Industry Applications, IEEE Transactions on Volume 31, Issue 3, May-June 1995 pp. 562-568.
The above approaches do not solve the aforementioned problems. Those of skill in the art will appreciate the present invention that addresses the above and other problems.